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Should the Catholic Church reestablish the Legion of Decency?
dailycatholic.org/issue/2001Aug/aug20ed.htm
From “My Catholic Faith” by Most Reverend Louis Laravoire Morrow (C) 1963:
"Pope Pius XII taught that the modern media of communication-films, radio and television are “remarkable inventions of man’s genius,” but at the same time “gifts from God.” As such they are good in them-selves and intended by God to be useful to man.
Today more than a few motion pictures are immoral and indecent. Qw must, therefore, choose only the good and avoid altogether objectionable films. to guide and assist us in this choice the National Legion of Decency, working under the hierarchy, publishes moral ratings on current motion pictures. To ignore these ratings is to expose ourselves to moral danger.
From the article linked below:Once a year, on the Sunday following December 8th, feast of the Immaculate Conception, we renew the Legion of Decency Pledge to freely promote what is good and to oppose, especially by our example, what is bad in motion exhibition. Since the film industry supplies only what the public buys, the keeping of this Pledge is your ballot at the box-office for good films.
Strengthened by the Sovereign Pontiff’s backing, the Legion of Decency was the greatest boycott this country has ever seen. Hollywood got the message and, for the next three decades would enjoy the golden years of movie-making, always under the watchful eye of the respected and feared Legion of Decency. Back then Gone with the Wind was condemned because it dealt with divorce and the word ‘damn’ was in it. Some say that’s too scrupulous. Yet look at the alternative. That would be what we have today when anything goes.
Please read article in its entiretyThere is hope however for history is cyclical. And it’s the lesson of history that should prompt the Church into reestablishing itself as the moral authority. She did so here in America 67 years ago in 1934 when the Legion of Decency was established. The Bishops of America at that time realized the great scandals that were afoot and the power of the celluloid. Movies like Cecil B. DeMille’s Cleopatra, Mae West’s I’m No Angel, The Gay Divorcee with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Of Human Bondage and the racy Tarzan and his mate film with Johnny Weismueller in which Maureen O’Sullivan romped around the jungle in skin-tight animal skins and had a nude swimming scene. Enough was enough. The jungle of sin had to be cleared. The Legion of Decency came to the rescue with a strict ratings scale that would spell doom to a producer if it was rated “C” for condemned. Even a “B” rating was death’s rattle for the studios. The reason it carried such clout was because Catholics everywhere took a pledge to uphold whatever the Legion of Decency said.
dailycatholic.org/issue/2001Aug/aug20ed.htm